The Proposal
by Loves to read books
Summary: Every four years on leap year, tradition lets a woman propose to her sweetheart. Will Victoire take advantage of this…  Victoire/Teddy


The Proposal

Vic watched the tide; the waves almost touching her toes before retreating again, only to repeat the process again. The ocean was twisting and turning with turmoil, almost like her thoughts.

What did she want with her life? She had graduated from Hogwarts six years ago but she still lived at her parent's house. If someone had told a much younger Vic that she would still be living at home at twenty four going onto twenty five she would have called them liars. She would have expected herself to be married, and have at least one child. That was what she had expected to happen once she left school, but it hadn't happened. It had happened to her younger sister who had married last December, to her longtime boyfriend. But her sister didn't have the same irrational fears that Vic had.

Her longtime boyfriend Teddy Lupin had asked Vic to marry him a number of times before, but she had always said no and given excuses. And she knew they had been excuses. She didn't really know why she hadn't said yes the first time he asked. She loved Teddy; he wasn't just her boyfriend, he was her best friend. Spending the rest of her life with him and raising a family would be a dream come true. Teddy was a hard working Auror, and between their two incomes they wouldn't want for much.

So what held her back? Her grandmother said that marriage makes the romance sweeter. It certainly was for her own parents who were still very much in love. Her sister also said marriage was amazing, but she was still in the honeymoon stage, so she didn't count.

Both she and Teddy both had good careers; and Teddy had inherited a house from his grandmother when she had passed on, so they would have a home. Their family supported their relationship and all her friends thought they suited quite well

Her father exited the house a few feet from where Vic was standing and joined her. He smiled his special smile that never failed to make Vic feel safe and loved. She was a daddy's little girl. Unlike her sister, Dominique, Vic had the best relationship with her father. That would change when she married, Vic thought to herself. Was that why she always said no whenever Teddy popped the question?

And as if her father knew just what she was thinking, he shifted and said

"You know, I'll always be here for you." Vic gave him a surprised look.

"How-?"

"I know you, better then you know yourself, my little victory girl." He said calling her by the pet name she had gotten from being born on the day You-know-who was defeated.

Dad then shrugged his shoulders. "Plus you've been looking at Teddy weirdly lately. Almost like you don't know what to make of him."

She bumped his shoulders against hers lightly, "Come on, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"It's Teddy." She finally said. "He keeps asking me to marry him."

"Don't you want to marry him?" Dad said "Couse I remember a little somebody saying they would wanted to marry teddy and have ten children." Vic scoffed

"I was three years old, dad." She said with a small smile

Dad nodded "And didn't somebody threaten me when I told that somebody that she couldn't date. Somebody then said they were in love and told me to butt out of somebody's life"

"Would you stop saying 'somebody'." Vic laughed "We both know who you are talking about.

Vic looked at her father suddenly serious. "I do want to marry Teddy. I just don't know how."

"Well when Teddy asks 'will you marry me?' you stop saying 'maybe!'." Dads said sarcastically "Then replace the 'maybe' with a 'yes'." Dad now got serious. "What's bothering you, honey? If you don't want to marry him…"

"Then I will say no myself" Vic said. "I do want to marry him." She repeated what she said earlier, but…" she hesitated. What if he laughed at her petty fear? What if he called it irrational?

"I want to marry Teddy, but I don't want our relationship to change, dad." She finally said.

Dad's eyebrow raised. "Huh?" was all he said. Vic rolled her eyes.

"Aunt Ginny was talking to mum and they were talking about how their relationships with their parents changed so much after marriage that it was almost as if it was a different relationship. They aren't as close to their father as they used to be and they are both ok with that." Vic felt her eyes tear up, but she stared out at sea so her dad wouldn't see.

Dad hugged her closer. "You know you were my only child I never feared losing." He said. "you're sister couldn't wait to leave home and your brother was the same. At a certain stage in their lives being seen with their parents became an embarrassment. But you, you have always been there." He put her fingers on her chin and turned her face until he could look into her eyes.

"I remember you had these same problems when you left for Hogwarts." Dad sighed "All my co-workers complained that their children couldn't wait to get away from them and go to school, I was the only one who could honestly say I didn't have that problem." He smiled at his daughter to show he preferred it that way.

"We will always be close because we want to be close." He said. "Going to Hogwarts couldn't change our father-daughter bond, moving on to the next stage of life won't make us any less close. We will always write to each other, we will always take time to spend bonding time together, and it's not like you're moving countries, mama and I will always be a floo call away."

Vic nodded and hugged her father tightly. "I will always be your father," dad said into her hair. "Just because you are letting someone into your life on a more permanent level doesn't mean you have to kick someone else out." Dad drew away from the hug.

"Now Teddy is in the kitchen; don't deny the poor child another opportunity to propose to you."

Vic nodded.

"He won't get the opportunity." she informed her father mischief in her eyes.

"Oh?" Dad looked confused "Why is that?"

"It's February 29th, dad. I'll be the one asking this time." With that she walked with a flawless grace to the back door and into the kitchen.

"This should be interesting." Dad said to himself as he followed behind her.


End file.
